Weyes Blood and the Dark Juices - The Outside Room LP (not not fun 2011)

Hypnagogic hallucination

These hallucinations occur just before falling asleep, and affect a surprisingly high proportion of the population. The hallucinations can last from seconds to minutes, all the while the subject usually remains aware of the true nature of the images. These may be associated with narcolepsy. Hypnagogic hallucinations are sometimes associated with brainstem abnormalities, but this is rare. In other words Natalie Mering from Jackie-O Motherfucker seems possesed by Nico's Desertshore.

Propably you all know 'till now that i am a bored bastard. I dont know if i have to blame the sun, the drinks or the vacations i've been to show me (arround) and you how lazy i feel the past 2 months. If all of the above doesn't make you want to hate me, just check the date on my previous post... Anyways i had to find something really good to get me writting stuff again and i find this in the Weyes Blood LP that i got some days ago.

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Pocahaunted - Threshold 7'' (not not fun 2010)

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, bands to solo projects, it’s all the same arc. And here it is, the final RIP action by star-crossed Not Not Fun institution Pocahaunted and the only recorded document of the final triforce-vocal line-up featuring Leyna Noel on keys/crooning/dance magic. The results blaze/amaze. “Threshold” was written on the road and melts through a river mistress intro before revving into a tense kraut-funk burner with catchy femme-soul vocables cascading down from every side. The B, “Echolocation,” is a tranced ghost-reggae comedown ballad and classic slow-dance live staple. Nimble bass maneuvering by whimsy princess Diva Dompe leads the melody up through the choruses into the torch-song bridge climax that leaves everybody on the floor...*not not fun

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Topaz Rags - The Crown Center 7" (not not fun 2010)

West Coast ghost squad Topaz Rags stalk back into the deadlights, ...recorded in the heart of winter in a room with one blue light bulb, “The Crown Center” is pure nightprowler music: quaking bass, grime-jazz keys, dusty drums, witch choirs floating through the smog and into sleeping homes with the power lines cut. The sound of crime to come. The flip (“You Go On”) slips deeper into the psych-psycho psyche, a bleached-brain riff-rhythm grinding away endlessly while voices and electric piano stabs arc across the stereo field, raining ash. A grimmer twist on the Topaz formula, the dreamer’s dream turned dark. not not fun

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LA Vampires + Zola Jesus (not not fun 2010)

Virtual reality trans-time zone collab between So-Cal sample sister LA Vampires and Madison, WI (though soon to be LA!) neo-Siouxsie Zola Jesus. Despite the distance the respective vibes vibe beautifully. Cold dub rhythms echo down grimy corridors while heartbroken tag-team femme howls come bleeding out of the horizon drenched in spectral delay. There’s a few bangers (“Bone Is Bloodstone,” “Looking In”), a few ballads (“In The Desert,” “Vous”), and a couple quasi-covers (“Searching,” “No No No”), so every mood is given its due. Local photographer (and drummer) extraordinaire Caitlin C. Mitchell even lays down some smoky trumpet on one track. Additional deep space Moog and production duties were handled by City Terrace studio wizard M. Geddes Gengras. A dark, gleaming gem of a 12”, and cool step sideways for both artists. 45 RPM black vinyl LPs in disco-hole sleeves with artwork and layout by Manda Beth Brown. Edition of 600.

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Magic Lantern - Platoon (not not fun 2010)

It’s been a while since Magic Lantern shined its High Beams out into the world but life’s a maze of alternate paths (marriage, children, Portland Oregon, etc) and that’s just the way it goes/went. Fortunately for all lovers of heavy male psych brotherhoods the ML gang convened back in 2009 before parting ways temporarily to track their second full-length, Platoon, and here it is. As oughta be expected, it's a monstrous hot-rod cruise into screaming dual wah distortions powered by the poker faced Gavin/Chip rhythm section and splattered with jazzy freak-out organ and the occasional Stallones echo yelp. Featuring most of their live classics from the pre-hiatus era (“Dark Cicadas,” “Friendship,” etc) and tracked/mixed by Best Coast Bobb Bruno, this fills the hole in yr heart left by High Beams... not not fun

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Pocahaunted - Make It Real (not not fun 2010)

After a six-month hiatus, a complete line-up overhaul, and a full year-plus of only playing shows and writing songs and amassing totemic objects, finally Pocahaunted return to the recorded realm with their first album since 2008. Time flies when yr having not not fun and all that. Make It Real collects seven of the band’s 2009 live staples for a 40-minute-ish collage of basement body music, garage dub damage, outsider funkadelic sprawl, voodoo rhythm workouts, duo femme soul vocal dynamics, dripping gold sweat, and dream fulfillment. Recorded barefoot and shirtless and direct to tape at Green Machine Studio in summer ’09 by M. Geddes Gengras and featuring guest bamboo sax by jazzmaster Alex Gray(of Dreamcolour/Deep Magic) and mastered by James Plotkin. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with warped LA post-Parliament utopia artwork by vision wizard Spencer Longo not not fun

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Topaz Rags - Capricorn Born Again (not not fun 2009)

Grey clouds stay grey. Low light situations birth low-lit moods. It's all bummer clockwork. West Coast lurk-jazz triad Topaz Rags return to vinyl with their debut long player, Capricorn Born Again, an eight-song comedown recorded/mixed from spring-to-fall of '09 via a complex 4-track/boombox assemblage method. Everything creaks and hisses, there's smoke in the air, players at the end of their ropes, lyrics washing over faded raga ballads, slinky electric piano bar depressions, shadow gauze cavern pop. The bell jar is half empty, obviously. Slow dive and sink in. Black vinyl LPs (mastered by Pete Swanson) in jackets designed by Amanda. Edition of 400.

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